Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Lake Forest Caucus Committee would like to invite you to our fall meet & greet. Join us to sample fine wines (courtesy of Courtyard Wines), mingle with fellow Lake Forest citizens, and learn more about the Caucus and opportunities to get involved.

Ara Goshgarian has lived in Lake Forest most of his life. He attended Everett School, Deerpath and Lake Forest High School. He then attended Carroll College, The University of Illinois (D.D.S.) and completed his orthodontic specialty program (Loyola University- orthodontic cert.). He returned to Lake Forest with his wife and four children to practice orthodontics with his father and has been in the community ever since. His children are currently attending and have attended both D67 & D115 schools.

Please join us at one or all of the following scheduled events where you can meet Ara!

You are Invited!

Friday, February 8, 2019 from 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm at

Lake Forest Sports Cars 990 North Shore Drive, Lake Bluff.

If you have already purchased your tickets, Thank You!

We look forward to seeing you at the event!

If you have not already purchased tickets, this is your chance to help support your community.

The Caucus Community Night has been renamed “Volunteers@Heart”. On this night, you will meet and network with our Caucus Candidates, local elected officials and fellow community volunteers who serve on Lake Forest boards and commissions.

And, you get do this while strolling among some of the most beautiful and fastest cars on the planet – Ferrari.

This is the only formal fundraising event the Caucus hosts each year. Do your part and help support our non-partisan mission to seek and recommend qualified individuals to volunteer to serve on Lake Forest boards and commissions. Your efforts have a direct impact on keeping Lake Forest’s property taxes among the lowest in Lake County.

We will be holding an Interim Meeting, which will be open to the entire Caucus, on December 4, 2018 from 7:00 – 7:30 to act on the Caucus Committee’s recommendation of Dewey Winebrenner for District 115 School Board. The Interim Meeting will be held at the Gorton Community Center.

The Annual and Spring Meetings: are open to all registered voters of Lake Forest. These semi-annual meetings provide a “State of the Caucus” address by the President of the Lake Forest Caucus and a financial review by the Treasurer. See what we’re doing and learn more about your Lake Forest Caucus and opportunities to get more involved in the community to keep it strong, healthy and a great place live.

Open Call: is open to all registered voters of Lake Forest. The purpose of this meeting is to educate and discuss how the caucus system works, encourage the public participation and to provide a “Volunteer Profile Sheet” to citizens that wish to be considered by the Caucus for elected or appointed positions in the upcoming year.

Caucus CommunityNight has been renamed to Volunteers @ Heart. and is held in the early evening on a Friday at Lake Forest Sports Cars. Come to meet your Mayor, Aldermen, Ward Chairs and Committee Members and slated candidates as we hold our annual Caucus fund-raiser. Please join us and have fun with great appetizers and refreshments included in the ticket price.

All other meetings are limited to the duly elected members of the Caucus Committee and the candidates being interviewed for positions within City boards and commissions. The Caucus Committee is committed to safeguarding the confidentiality of all those Lake Forest volunteers who seek the recommendation of the Mayor. Our primary directive is to seek out qualified candidates and encourage all members of the community to serve.

The Lake Forest Caucus Committee would like to thank everyone who came and helped make our wine tasting a great success!

Our event was Thursday – September 27, 2018. MaryAnn Redding opened her home to the citizens of Lake Forest who came and enjoyed good company, great stories and really fantastic wine supplied by Sunset Foods.

LFHS is a top-performing school based on objective measures

Student Support

The data support that LFHS is an academically and fiscally sound institution that is continuously improving, and the candidates for D115 Board of Education nominated by the Lake Forest Caucus will work to continue this tradition of excellence at LFHS. Please visit our candidate information to learn more about our Slated Candidates

LFHS develops compassionate, confident and accomplished students

LFHS offers big school programs in a supportive small school environment. We have the fewest number of students of any neighboring north suburban districts.

School has certified 10.8:1 student to staff ratio, so our teachers and support professionals know our students

LFHS offers a broad spectrum of specialized programs and teams of professionals, who work in concert in core support teams, to support students’ social/emotional needs.

Community Service – our students perform over 14,000 service hours annually

Counselors regularly help students make:

Appropriate self-directed academic career and post-secondary plans

Foster social/emotional health

Show respect for and understanding of others

Students have expanded access to academic resource centers staffed by teachers for additional help and support. Whenever they need it and during every school day.

Summer school offerings are designed for further support. Bridge courses in Math, English, Science, and Social Studies help students move up to higher level courses.

It’s clear the current Caucus non-partisan board well serves the school and community

The Lake Forest Caucus provides a weekly communication about the achievements of Lake Forest High School and it’s students.

LFHS is a top-performing school based on objective measures.

The data supports LFHS as an academically and fiscally sound institution that is engaged in continuous improvement.

This 2/17/2017 communication focuses on: Financial Strength

D115 has the lowest high school tax rate in Lake Countyand the second lowest inIllinois

(source: ISBE general state aid data, 2015 tax rate)

This is due to D115’s balanced budget and reasonable reserves. Current and past D115 boards have managed the school budget with tremendous skill and expertise.

D115 has top rating from S&P of AAA and Moody’s of Aaa:

Only 73 school districts in the US that have earned these top bond ratings. Appropriately, D115 was awarded the Illinois State Board of Education’s highest category of financial strength recognition for 2016-2017.

It’s clear the current non-partisan board serves the school and community and that the Caucus continues to slate outstanding candidates.

The Lake Forest Caucus is providing a weekly series of communications about the recent achievements of Lake Forest High School and our students.

LFHS is a top-performing school based on objective measures.

The data support that LFHS is an academically and fiscally sound institution that is continuously improving, and the candidates for D115 Board of Education nominated by the Lake Forest Caucus will work to continue this tradition of excellence at LFHS. Please visit our candidate information to learn more: https://www.lakeforestcaucus.com/slate-of-candidates-lake-forest-caucus/

ACT scores, 2016 data reported to Illinois

At LFHS, the majority of our students took the ACT in 2016, while the SAT was not required. Only 33 LFHS students reported taking the SAT.

LFHS posted a 2016 ACT composite score of 26.4 This is a record ACT score for our top-performing school and surpasses the excellent scores achieved at LFHS over the past several years. This measure includes all students. LFHS at 26.4 is almost 6 points above the national and Illinois averages.

AP coursework and AP test scores, 2016 data reported to Illinois

In the last three years, the number of LFHS students taking AP tests has increased by 59%.

This dramatic growth of AP participation has been fostered by policies that removed prerequisites and restrictions while adding new AP courses, combined with actively encouraging and supporting our students to help them be successful at their highest level of challenge.

During this surge in AP participation, fully 95% of those taking AP tests have scored 3 or higher (considered a successful outcome). The 2016 national AP average is only 64%, so this highlights how well LFHS graduates stack up against the US college-bound competition.

LFHS has been named to The College Board AP District Honor Roll in 2017.

Nationally, LFHS is one of only 433 school districts to achieve this.

We believe that our schools, which serve our community so well, require outstanding school boards. Your Lake Forest Caucus, which is non-partisan, has worked diligently to find, interview, vet and present a slate of outstanding candidates.

Please remember, we need your VOTE on April 4, 2017

Our candidates for the D115 School Board:

Tom Nemickas, Sally Davis, Ted Moorman, David Lane

Each of these four fine volunteers:

Is respectful and has a cooperative mindset

Exercises sound judgment

Builds and fosters collaborative working relationships throughout the school and community

Brings diverse ideas and unique skills to the board

Possesses no personal agenda, but rather shares a sincere interest in working together with the sitting board as a cohesive team to build on our school’s successes for the benefit of all stakeholders

The Annual Meeting will be held on December 7, 2016 at Gorton Community Center.

This year the caucus has been busy seeking, interviewing and selecting candidates for many of the offices including Alderman, Mayor and committee roles. Because of the large number of volunteer candidates this year, we split the annual meeting into two meetings! Please join us on December 7 for the second Annual Meeting where you will be able to meet the candidates the caucus is slating for Alderman, School Districts 67 and 115 and more.

To see our list of Slated Candidates and read their Bios, please click here